Voice message storage and retrieval systems, such as "voice mail", enable a caller to store or retrieve a voice message handled by a central facility over telephone voice/data lines. In the usual voice storage and retrieval system, a synthesized voice first is generated from a voice memory and sent to a subscriber to provide certain instructional information. Transmission of the synthesized voice is followed by transmission of a personalized recorded message stored elsewhere, such as in a hard disk. The voice message thereafter is retrieved from the hard disk and supplied to a buffer memory for subsequent transmission to the requesting subscriber. One example of a voice storage/retrieval system known in the prior art is described in Fukanaga U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,914.
In voice mail systems and the like, the message recipient ordinarily will retrieve from a voice mail storage facility a generalized prerecorded instructional message followed by a personalized message stored in his or her "mail box". The generalized message has no particular relationship to the personalized message, nor is the generalized message selected by the subscriber. The recipient will access the content of the mail box by "dialing in", ordinarily at a DTMF telephone keypad, the access code of the recipient's personal mail box or a mail box of his or her organization to which the recipient has the right of access.
The present invention is directed to implementation of a voice message storage/retrieval system that will be accessible to a designated recipient preferably on a one-time basis. A preferred application of the invention is in the context of a voice mail "greeting card" where a subscriber stores both a personalized message and a selected prerecorded message at a voice message storage facility over a telecommunication network. The access code of the two messages is printed on a record medium, resembling a greeting card, to be mailed to a designated recipient. The recipient calls the voice message storage facility, and enters the access code, read from the card. The facility plays out the personalized and subscriber-selected prerecorded messages to the recipient.
The prerecorded message is selected by the subscriber from a library of prerecorded messages that preferably are voice messages from celebrities or professional celebrity impersonators. The combination of personalized and celebrity voice messages commonly will commemorate an event such as a birthday or anniversary, in the fashion of a greeting card.